


in the dark, i found a friend

by archiveofwebs



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Buried!Jonathan, M/M, a little bit soft, blinding (not described or detailed), graverobbing (not described), sassy rayner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:48:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24616300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/archiveofwebs/pseuds/archiveofwebs
Summary: He didn’t expect to find someone not grieving in the graveyard. The grave keeper had been peacefully napping in the little guard house near the gate when Rayner had slipped in. Graveyards were not his normal hunting grounds, but he had heard of a few recent burials and since he happened to be in the area thought he would take a midnight stroll. Coming across a man who was digging into a grave was not something he had expected.-When Rayner decides to put Jonah in his place for causing him problems, he's reminded of what got him to this place. He normally wouldn't be affected by a Watcher's plans, but sometimes, it's necessary.
Relationships: Maxwell Rayner/Jonathan Fanshawe
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	in the dark, i found a friend

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write Rayner blinding Jonah cause I was in a 'be mean to Jonah' mood.
> 
> This was not supposed to be both a Buried!Fanshawe fic as well as a JonathanRayner fic...
> 
> At this point I have just given up trying to reason with my fics. 
> 
> It is what it is. And all that jazz.

There were two types of extinguished flames that Jonah knew of. One was a gentle extinguishing. Made by man or by lack of wax. It was a flickering, a waft of smoke, then a fading light. 

Then there was something harsh. Something immediate. 

Those deceased flames always brought someone along with it. 

Jonah sat up just a little bit straighter as he returned his letter to its stack. Fixing his clothes, he blinked once. 

Twice. 

Blink. Blink. Blink. 

Nothing. 

He swallowed once. 

He would never say if it was fear or reflex. 

( _ Everyone is afraid of that dark. It’s natural.  _

_ It’s as old as time.) _

Sir Rayner was old and how old Jonah would never know. 

This man was unknowable and Jonah hated it. 

Placing his hands on his desk, he rose to stand when two heavy hands fell like bricks on his shoulders and lowered him back into his seat. 

They didn’t leave when Jonah was reseated and Jonah felt fear creep in. Not of the dark, but of this man. 

The neck was everyone’s weakness, blood full of fear or not. 

“Sir Rayner-”

“You’ve been causing problems for me, boy.”

Boy. No one called him that anymore. He had earned their respect, their fear, their-

Sir Rayner acted like he was better than him and Jonah would-

A hand covering one of his human eyes shook him out of his pride. 

“Remember your place.”

Silence. 

Fear. 

Panic. 

But no pain. 

When the candle flickered to life, only half of Jonah’s world came back. 

Under the scream, a deep chuckle could be heard. 

-

Being slapped was a new experience for him, and Rayner had been around for a long, long time. 

Sighing, he caught the hand that was making its way back for round two and squeezed once. The hand struggled for a moment, then went limp. 

“Are you done?”

“...”

“Very well.” Releasing the hand, Rayner sighed and took a seat in the nearest chair. He took a drink of the glass of water that sat on the end table and watched the man pace. 

“...”

“Hullo to you too.”

“...”

The man kept pacing and pacing, occasionally lifting one hand to run through his hair. Then he stopped, about-faced and strode up to Rayner. 

“Just. Tell me. What did you do?”

“I blinded him.” The man caught his lips between his teeth and closed his eyes. 

“Oh don’t look like that. It was only in one eye.” Silence. Pacing. 

“I could go back and finish the job if that's what’s upsetting you.”

“Rayner, you blinded him!”

“I did. I just said that, I believe.”

“You can’t just do that to people!”

“I can do whatever I want to people who are causing me problems. He wasn’t exactly being a gentleman towards you either, Jonathan.”

“I-I…”

Rayner said nothing as Jonathan resumed his pacing. Mid stride he stopped and dropped to his knees. 

Rayner did nothing. Would do nothing.

In the darkness of the room, Jonathan Fanshawe collapsed to his knees and sobbed. Each sob releasing just a little bit more of his humanity. 

(In the earth below, each tear was greedily lapped up. 

_ Come to us. Come home, our beloved Jonathan. _ )

-

Rayner supposes that technically that’s the second time Jonathan Fanshawe had slapped him. The first time had been a shovel to the face, and a moment that Rayner would like to forget.

He didn’t expect to find someone not grieving in the graveyard. The gravekeeper had been peacefully napping in the little guard house near the gate when Rayner had slipped in. Graveyards were not his normal hunting grounds, but he had heard of a few recent burials and since he happened to be in the area thought he would take a midnight stroll. Coming across a man who was digging into a grave was not something he had expected. 

Neither was the shovel that had come slamming into his face. (He was very happy it was dull.)

As he rightened himself and waved the other man’s hands away, Rayner sighed and begrudgingly introduced himself.

It was the first of many meetings he would have with Jonathan Fanshawe. 

-

After that night, they had met in various graveyards around the city several nights a week. Rayner pretended to be doing nothing, but if the dark of night was just a little bit thicker around them to hide the light from Jonathan’s lantern well...Jonathan didn’t need to know. 

It was weird, this...lack of fear that the good doctor seemed to possess. Multiple times there had been a few incidents that Rayner had to take care of, and every time the doctor barely blinked. 

(He corrected himself one night. There was only one time he had seen absolute fear in the man’s eyes. 

When Jonathan had pulled away from the damp earth, it reached back, wrapped around him tightly, and tried to pull him back in.

He thinks for a moment that Jonathan would be a good-

No. There’s too many eyes on him. 

He does wonder if the man knows.)

They don’t say much during their nightly meetings, which Rayner is content with. The man murmurs enough for the both of them.

He doesn’t realize until later, that the man never brings up Jonah Magnus. 

Even if it’s him that he’s digging up the bodies for. 

-

Hanging around Jonathan in public settings proves to be just as, if not more, entertaining. 

He’s standing next to Adalbert, ignoring the man’s antics and stories in favor of finding someone a little jumpy in the lowly lit room. 

He bristles at the self entitled cough and elbows Adalbert. The man gives him a sharp grin, turning to face the little prick that stands behind them

(He gave up trying to be nice to Jonah Magnus in his head months ago. Watchers were the most entitled of all their lot and nothing sparked joy in him more than knowing he was a walking blind spot for this man.)

“Sir Rayner, Sir…”

“Oh ho ho! He forgets, he forgets! I told you Rayner, my friend, Watchers are very forgetful.”

“Adalbert.” Rayner grins as he notices Magnus’s hand clench around his wine glass. 

“It is, it is! Had to change the look up a bit, but yes, yes!”

There’s a slight twitch to Magnus’s mouth and he can tell that the man is about to make a comment when someone approaches them. Rayner tips his head just a bit so that the brim of his hat shades his eyes but stops midway when he notices who is joining them.

Jonathan Fanshawe looks tired, but smiles widely when he sees Rayner. 

“Sir Rayner! What an unexpected surprise.”

“Likewise. This doesn’t seem like your kind of event, if I may say so.”

“Oh it certainly is not, but Jonah invited me and I had the spare time, so I accepted.”

Rayner nodded once, knowing that Jonathan usually kept this day of the week open for any backlogged work. 

“It’s good to see you out. I worry about you wasting away in your manor.”

Jonathan laughed and waved his hand, eyes crinkling and shoulders shaking. Next to him, Magnus’s face turned something ugly and Rayner could feel Adalbert’s gaze on him. With unveiled anger, Magnus spoke.

“I wasn’t aware you knew Rayner, Jonathan.” The doctor gave Jonah a confused look, before turning back to Rayner. 

“Oh, yes. It’s been a few months, hasn’t it, since our fateful meeting?”

Rayner laughed something deep and hearty, reaching a hand out towards Jonathan. It’s a gamble, he knows, whether Jonathan will shake his hand or place his hand on his, but either choice will anger Jonah Magnus so it’s a win-win scenario. 

(His old heart beats a little faster at the thought of Jonathan smiling shyly at him, cunning eyes soft and warm.)

Jonathan’s confusion at his friend’s anger melts from his face when he sees Rayner’s hand and with a coyness that was unlike him, he reached out to place his hand on the offered one. 

(His mind wonders what it would be like to fall in love, to be wanted for himself, not for someone else’s gain. He wonders if Rayner would want to hear all the small details about himself, about his life.)

Rough lips pressing against the top of his hand draws him back to the present and he blushes something bright when he notices it’s Rayner, eyes mostly shielded by the brim of his hat. 

(He doesn’t miss the gleam that winks in milky white eyes.) 

(He also doesn’t miss that below the smugness, there is affection. His chest aches.)

A loud cough interrupts the moment and from the look on Adalbert’s face, it wasn’t him. Jonathan lowers his head so that his hair hides his face and looks away. There’s a final squeeze to Jonathan’s hand before he let’s go. 

(He ignores that for the rest of the evening, he misses the feel on Sir Rayner’s hand on his.) 

Rayner directs a disgusted look, lip pulling up and eyes narrowed, at Jonah Magnus and watches as he pulls Jonathan away. 

It doesn’t matter. He knows that Jonah’s recent schemes have lost him favor with Jonathan. 

It was only a matter of time.

-

The next night, as Jonathan is taking a break to rest on his shovel, he speaks. 

“I apologize if I get the name wrong, but you serve...the Dark?”

Rayner startles. It’s a question he hadn’t expected from Jonathan, but the man never ceases to catch him off guard.

“I do. It has other names as well. Forever Blind.”

“And it’s...domain...is darkness?”

“You catch on quickly.” He risks running a gloved hand down Jonathan’s sweaty cheek. He gets a soft blush in return.

“Ah..yes...I have noticed recently that the night is...thicker...when we are here. The light doesn’t stretch as far as it should and well, Jonah likes to talk.”

“That he does. Quite annoying if you ask me.”

“What do you call...hm. Nevermind.”

“Jonathan?” He turns to fully look at the other man, who was now kneeling on the ground. His hand was buried deep in the soil, almost to the elbow and despite it being dark, he could see the earth shifting, moving, by itself.

He glares at the earth. Useless, but it made him feel better.

“The Buried. Or the Center. At least that’s what I believe Smirke named it. I’ve come across it once or twice.”

For a long time, Jonathan says nothing, does nothing. Then, slowly, he places his other hand on the ground and it’s greedily consumed by the grave dirt. 

In the distance, Rayner can feel Eyes poking about. 

_ You are going to have to wait. He’s being Watched, for now. _

Of course, no one hears him. 

(He ignores how Jonathan sinks just a little deeper in the ground, knees and feet consumed by the dirt.)

-

He remembers, vaguely, telling Jonathan about his residence. If they were to meet outside of some graveyard, it was either at a parlor or Jonathan’s manor. 

So when Jonathan shows up out of the blue one clear night, he’s both surprised and worried. 

He ushers the man in, gets him something hot to drink. The man is still in his night clothes and is shivering something bad. 

(He feels this odd tickle of satisfaction in his mind, can feel the darkness outside of the manor churn and twist. When he glances back at Jonathan, he can see dirt on his feet and darkness in his hair. 

It brings him great satisfaction to know that Jonathan trusted the Dark enough to lead him to Rayner.)

As he hands Jonathan the steamy mug, he notes for the first time that the man is carrying a crumpled piece of paper, and from the looks of the stock, it’s a letter. He gently rests a hand over the one with the letter (it’s cold and trembling), rubbing a soothing thumb across the clench-pale knuckles. After a few moments, he uses his other hand to extract the letter.

He doesn’t read it. He can make out  _ J. Magnus  _ on the bottom and knows that the man has tried to interfere.

“I-I...I said no. I...I can’t...it’s...have you ever done something like that…”

Rayner says nothing for a moment, choosing instead to press a finger under Jonathan’s chin and raise his gaze to meet his milky eyes. 

They have never made eye contact this direct before and Rayner doesn’t know how to feel about it.

(He’ll find out later that the loving gaze that Jonathan gives them when they lie together, legs entwined, is worth every second of the discomfort he’s slowly getting over.)

“Yes. And I will do it again. As many times as I have to, in order to help my god.” Jonathan breathes in deeply and Rayner doesn’t look away. “But I won’t ask, or make you, or even have you near when it happens.”

“What if...what if I have to do it...for the Center…that doesn’t-”

“No. Even if you have to for the Center, I know that you wouldn’t ask me or any of your other friends to be a part of it. You aren’t Jonah Magnus, dear Jonathan. You aren’t greedy and self centered like him. We do not lose ourselves, or become someone else, when we become avatars. You’re just seeing his true colors. I am sorry, love.”

Without warning, Jonathan pitched forward, gripped tightly to the heavy material of his jacket, and sobbed. 

-

Rayner smirked as he stepped silently out of the Dark, eyes narrowing on the slouching body of Jonah Magnus. 

Jonathan was resting in his bed, having passed out from his emotions. Rayner had carried him up the winding staircase and placed him gently on the soft sheets, loosened his waistcoat, and left him a short note. Nothing much, just that he was visiting a mutual friend and he would be back soon.

As he raised his hand and extinguished the flames, his smirk turned into something nasty. 

_ My dear Jonah,  _

_ Oh how you have crossed the line. _

**Author's Note:**

> I'm now very attached to JonathanRayner and don't know what to do with myself. 
> 
> Sorry for the abrupt ending...honestly I just got really discouraged halfway through and just wanted to delete it but I had already written 1.8k so I just...finished it...
> 
> Anywho I'm over twitter at [@sassymordechais](https://twitter.com/sassymordechais) just happily shipping whoever I want despite them never ever meeting.


End file.
